A bunch of folks on the left replied along the lines of “oh, so you’re an admitted fascist now?”

But that’s not what Cornyn was trying to do.

In his oblique way, Cornyn was trying to draw comparison between big-government, Democratic Socialist-leaning progressives, and dictatorship.

He saw his online Trumpy friends make “the-Left-is-like-Hitler” comparisons and figured he would pile on with his own unique spin. He chose the only other historical dictator he could think of, Benito Mussolini. And he had to chose one from history, because Trump is friends with all the current dictators.

Here is the thing most people don’t realize about John Cornyn: He is not very smart. Or, as GOP strategist John Weaver put it, he’s “sniveling, cowardly and stupid as an addled coyote.”

Does John Cornyn really think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a fascist like Mussolini—which is basically what he was implying? No. Because he doesn’t understand the difference between fascism, socialism, or any other -ism. Again, he is not bright.

This is why Beto O’Rourke could defeat John Cornyn. O’Rourke narrowly lost to Ted Cruz. Say what you will about Ted Cruz, you can’t deny that he is at least intelligent. Evil, too. And with the rhetorical gift of making absolute bullshit sound convincing. John Cornyn has no such gift. John Cornyn is like Ted Cruz without the cunning or charisma. He’s like Ted Cruz minus the entertainment value, which basically leaves… nothing.

Beto O’Rourke will probably run for president. We hope he does not. He has an army of Texans ready to support him here in the state, and a much weaker opponent in John Cornyn.